Potty Training - when exactly to go nappy-free?

[Jam177]

Hi Wise Mamas! Hoping for some advice on potty training my 21mo. She’s been happy using the potty for a couple of months now, but only when we have sat her on it (i.e. she hasn’t been asking for it). Recently she has got really good at telling us when she needs a poo and we seem to have that one sorted, but she is still weeing in her nappy and I don’t know how to tackle it…

I’m a bit confused when I read online info on potty training because it says they will have accidents to begin with and there will be a lot of washing…Does this suggest we should put her in knickers now? Like, the move to knickers (and the subsequent accidents) will make her realise that she needs the potty for her wees and she can’t just go in her nappy anymore? If that’s the case, what do we do about going out/going to nursery etc? Do we need to just dedicate a load of time to staying in and nailing it?

OR does all of this just mean that she is not ready?

Sorry if I’m being really daft here! Thanks in advance for any help and advice! x

We spent 3 days at home, no nappies/knickers/trousers etc, bare bum, and just focused on watching her and helping her get to the potty when she needed. We followed the oh crap book, which says lots of water to start with so lots of chances to practice, first couple of days she needed to wee every 30mins. So then on day 3/4 we did a trip to the park as could time it between wees. Then back into nursery for rest of week as usual

Thanks for your reply @Lazypuppy :) So after those few days you didn't use nappies at all? Did she start to tell you when she needed to go? Do you think it sounds like my LO is ready for this?

Only used nappies at naps and bedtimes as daytime potty training is seperate to nighttime potty training.

Once we got rid of nappies in the day we didn't go back. In the first few weeks its just as much about you prompting them/emndig them to go for a wee, took a while for her to be reliable on telling us when she needs to go. We had pottys within close distance, and she would just go her self.

We were later pptty training dd, she was 3yo when we did it, so quite a bit older than yours. Honestly unless you are confident i would carry on with nappies for a little longer, once you get rid of them you realise how much you miss them and how much more planning needs to go into every trip out the house. We only started as she was dry for quite a few hours in the day which showed she could hold her wee

We also stayed in the house for 3 days to start with. We built up to it by getting a book for DS about potty training, a reward chart and taking him on a shopping trip for pants.

Then one morning said no more nappies but he did wear pants and trousers which was his choice. First couple of days pretty stressful with lots of accidents but on third day it just clicked and he started taking himself to potty and just occasional accidents since if he's tired or distracted etc.

I read some advice on MN which said there are 3 stages from for them to work through. "I've done a wee" then "I'm weeing" then "I need to do a wee". How long it takes for them to get through these stages varies for each child. But I would think if takes more than a few days then they're not ready and try again in few months, especially as your little one is so young. My DS was just over 3 when we did this.

We are in a simillar stage where dd will ask to sit on the potty if she sees it, and will wee in there but only a small amount - not covering the borrom of the potty. As such I think she's doing tiny but frequent wees so have been advised to hold off until she is going about 30mins between them and doing a decent wee all at once

It really depends on what method of potty training you want to follow. The 'Oh crap' method which @Lazypuppy mentions is parent-led, and you get rid of nappies straight away and never look back. You normally need to spend several days at home until your child has cracked it. This is also what we did, and we started at 26 months. My DS mastered wee very quickly but it took several months before he was comfortable pooing in the potty/toilet - that stage was a bit stressful and I did wonder if we had started too early.

Some people prefer to use a child-led method which takes longer but depending on your child can be less stressful - you basically introduce the potty and encourage the child to use it when they're ready.

You really just need to take the nappies off and commit to it.

We did it in the summer, so slightly different, but we just took her nappies away and let her walk around naked from the waist down (we don't have carpets downstairs). We didn't put any pressure on at all and she only had one accident that first day.

I hate being stuck in the house, so I still put her in nappies for nursery and trips out until I knew she was rock solid, which took about a week. I noticed one day that her nappies were dry and she was waiting until we got home to wee. It was all very stress free.

My daughter was 28 months and we took the daytime nappies away on day 1. We stayed at home for 4 days. After that we packed lots of spare pants and shorts/leggings. If we were going to someone's house we put her in washable training pants to save their carpets. We have no carpet downstairs (we rolled up the rugs) and she wasn't in childcare for the Summer holidays as my husband is a teacher. There were a fair few accidents in the first 2 weeks but she got it totally by the end of the holidays.

Thank you all for your advice! It sounds like we've inadvertently been doing child-led potty training, as mentioned by @IceandIndigo

@Findahouse21 my LO is definitely doing big wees when she goes on the potty, but I'm wondering if it's perhaps bad timing for the intense no-pants method and we're better waiting for warmer weather